Highway construction



p 1939- L. v. MUTSCHLER I 2,174,040

HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION Filed Dec. 17, 1936 Patented Sept. 26, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEv HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION Lawrence V. Mutschler, St. Cloud, Minn.

Application December 17, 1936, Serial No. 116,320

13 Claims.

I My invention relates to improvements in highway construction.

Many of the modern highways are paved with concrete, the paving consisting of concrete slabs,

laid in succession along a road bed. These pavements have, at least, two trafiic lanes, one at one side of the pavement for tra ntion and one at the other side of tli. ment for traffic in the opposite direction. As a safety facm tor for vehicles traveling the outside lanes, shoulders of dirt, gravel or cinders, or of some suitable composition are provided along the edges of the concrete strip. These shoulders increase the width of the roadway, over that of the concrete itself, for parking purposes and for emergencies, as in the driving of a vehicle off of the concrete through faulty driving on the part of someone concerned. These shoulders commonly settle beneath the level of the surface of the concrete,

leaving a ridge along the pavement over which the vehicle wheels must climb in passing from a shoulder back to the concrete. To pilot a vehicle over such a ridge, a driver is obliged to direct the wheels rather sharply toward the pavement and, at high speed, such direction of the vehicle wheels is exceedingly hazardous and often at tended with serious consequences. The vehicle turns more or less crosswise with respect to the direction of momentum and loses traction to a 30 greater or lesser extent. Under these circumstances, it is often that drivers completely lose control of their vehicles with the result that they turn over or run or skid into vehicles or other objects along the roadway. The fear of these 35 well known hazards causes many drivers to crowd to or over the center of the pavement and this often is responsible for serious accidents resulting from side-swinging and collision with other vehicles on the pavement.

40 An object of the present invention is to provide a pavement of relatively indestructible material,

such as concrete, so constructed that swiftly moving vehicles encountering the shoulders of the pavement, may be safely redirected into their proper lanes on the pavement.

More specifically, it is an object of my invention to provide a pavement, as above, having an improved marginal construction permitting the wheels of vehicles to travel readily from the road- 50 Way at the sides of the pavement to the pavement itself.

Another object of the invention is to supply a pavement of improved construction, as above, which provides a bond between the material of the shoulders and the pavement and effectively minimizes the settling of the shoulders along the meeting lines between shoulders and pavement.

A feature of the invention resides in forming a pavement with irregular edges, which, at recurring intervals, follow out lines of parallelism with 5' the direction of travel along the roadway.

Another feature of the invention resides in providing a pavement with ramps along the edges thereof upon which vehicle wheels may travel to the traction surface of the pavement. 10

A further feature of the invention resides in providing, in the marginal portions of a pavement, a series of elongated depressions or notches open at the edges of the pavement as well as at the face thereof to form. inset ledges having supl5. porting surfaces beneath the level of the traction surface of the pavement.

Another feature of the invention is to provide a pavement having depressions, as above, in which such depressions angle into the body of the pave- 20 ment to form depressed supporting surfaces increasing in width toward the far ends thereof.

An additional feature of the invention resides in forming a pavement with angling corner depressions in which inclines or ramps are provided 25; at the far ends of the depressions, such ramps leading upwardly from the depressed supporting surfaces to the traction surface of the pavement.

Other objects of the invention reside in the novel combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter illustrated and/or described.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a roadway showing a two lane concrete pavement embodying my invention and showing also shoulders of earthy matter or prepared composition bordering said pavement; Fig.2 is afragmentary perspective view showing a marginal portion of the concrete pavement illustrated in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a detail sectional View taken as on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which portrays an embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that the illustrated roadway includes a road bed In of suitable construction. Laid along the middle of the road bed ll! is a pavement ll comprising a succession of concrete slabs, a portion only of one of such slabs being shown. The particular pavement illustrated is an ordinary two-way pavement having a lane l 2 for travel in one direction at one side of a center line l3 and a lane 14 for travel in the opposite direction at the other side of said line. Along each of the edges of the concrete pavement H and at each upper corner thereof, said pavement is constructed with a series of identical, equally spaced, elongated depressions or notches I5, which, preferably, are made by using forms disposed along the side rail of the main form in which the concrete for the slab is poured. Each depression provides a ledge I6, inset in a marginal portion of the pavement, such ledge furnishing a supporting surface I! somewhat beneath the level of the face or traction surface of the pavement II. Each depression l5 angles into the body of the pavement H from an edge thereof so that the depressed supporting surface I! of the inset ledge l6 increases in width toward the far end of the depression, as regards the direction of vehicular travel along said edge. At this far end of the depression, the supporting surface I? of the ledge 16 is inclined upwardly to form a ramp ll leading from said surface I! to the top of the pavement slab. The inner side of the de pression 15, comprises a vertical wall l8, biased inwardly from the edge of the concrete slab. This vertical wall l8 meets the supporting surfaces l'l, 11 of the ledge IS.

The lines defined by the upper corners of the pavement H are of zig-zag pattern. In advance of each depression l5, a reach IQ of the upper corner line parallels the direction of travel along the pavement. Beginning at the near end of the depression, this corner line biases inwardly, as at 20, and at the far end of the depression where the ramp il meets the level of the face or traction surface of the pavement slab, the corner line has a reach 2| extending at right angles to the direction of travel.

Shoulders 22 of earthy matter or of a suitably prepared composition are laid upon the road bed Ill alongside the concrete pavement ll. Initially, the upper surfaces of the shoulders 22 will be in substantially the same plane as the traction surface of the pavement H and the material of said shoulders will fill the corner depressions i5 in the pavement and overrun the inset ledges [6. This overrunning of said ledges i5 by the material of the shoulders 22 enhances the bond between said shoulders and pavement at the meeting lines therebetween. When destruction of the shoulders along these lines begins to occur, the driver is not confronted with an unbroken ridge at the edge of the pavement over which he must pilot his vehicle should it have deviated onto a shoulder by accident or design. Instead, he finds a succession of ways all leading back to the traffic surface of the pavement substantially in line with the direction of momentum acquired by the vehicle. In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, these ways, formed by notching the upper corners of the pavement, are gently biased inwardly from the edges of the pavement and said ways have supporting surfaces over which the vehicle wheels travel upwardly to the traction surface of the pavement from levels therebeneath.

From the foregoing, it will be readily comprehended that the embodiment of my invention in a roadway entails little or no expense over the usual cost of construction of similar roadways. The pavement needs be no wider than usual and the material saved in constructing the pavement practically offsets the cost of embodying my invention therein. The employment of my invention in a highway broadens the serviceability of a pavement of given width by inducing travel in available space along the pavement removed from the center line.

It is believed that the use of the present invention in highway construction will substantial- 1y eliminate traffic accidents which occur as the result of attempts to drive swiftly moving vehicles from pavement shoulders back to the pavement.

Changes in the specific form of my invention, as herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a series of elongated depressions formed in the upper corner portion thereof along one edge adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, said depressions providing a succession of inset ledges and ramps, one ramp to each ledge, each ramp leading up from the far end of its respective ledge to the level of the face of the pavement, each ledge and its respective ramp increasing in width from the near end of the ledge to the far end of the ramp.

2. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a series of elongated depressions formed in the upper corner portion thereof along one edge adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, said depressions providing a succession of inset ledges and ramps, one ramp to each ledge, each ramp leading up from the far end of its respective ledge to the level of the face of the pavement, each ledge increasing in width from its near end to the far end thereof.

3. In a roadway for vehicles, a strip of concrete pavement having a series of spaced runways along one edge thereof, said runways being ramped upward to the level of the face of said pavement, the width of each runway increasing in the direction in which vehiculartravel is directed along said edge of said pavement.

4. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a series of elongated depressions formed in the upper corner portion thereof along one edge adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, said depressions providing a succession of inset ways accessible to vehicle wheels biased toward said edge of said pavement, said ways being biased inwardly of the pavement and ramped to the level of the face thereof, said face of said pavement providing stretches in continuation of said ramped ways.

5. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a series of similar elongated depressions formed in the upper corner portion thereof along one edge adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, said depressions providing a succession of inset ways accessible to vehicle wheels biased toward said edge of said pavement, said ways being biased inwardly of the pavement and ramped to the level of the face thereof, the distance between adjacent ways being less than the length of one thereof.

6. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a series of elongated depressions formed in the upper corner portion thereof along one edge adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, said depressions providing a succession of inset ways leading upwardly in the general direction of travel and merging with the traction face of said pavement along a line substantially transversely of said direction of travel.

'7. Ina roadway for vehicles. a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a shoulder of comparatively destructible character along one of its edges adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, a succession of inset ledges and ramps along said edge of said pavement, one ramp to each ledge, each ramp leading up from the far end of its respective ledge to the level of the face of the pavement, said ledges and ramps being normally covered by material of said shoulder and serving to support the same in such covering disposition thereof.

8. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a shoulder of comparatively destructible character alone one of its edges adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, a succession of inset ledges along said edge of said pavement, said ledges being normally covered by material of said shoulder and serving to support the same in such covering disposition thereof.

9. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a shoulder of comparatively destructible character along one of its edges adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, a succession of inset ramps along said edge of said pavement, each ramp leading up to the level of the face of the pavement in the direction of travel thereover, said ramps being normally covered by material of said shoulder and serving to support the same in such covering disposition thereof.

10. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement having a shoulder of comparatively destructible character along one of its edges adjacent to which vehicular travel is directed in a given direction, a succession of ramps along said edge of said pavement, each ramp leading up to the level of the face of the pavement in said direction, said ramps being normally covered by material of said shoulder and serving to support the same in such covering disposition thereof.

11. In a roadway for vehicles, a relatively indestructible strip of pavement and a relatively destructible shoulder extending along one edge thereof, a succession of elongated recesses formed in and extending lengthwise along said edge of said pavement, the recesses opening upwardly and sidewise to the outside to receive shoulder material, said recesses being spaced apart to provide laterally projecting extensions of the pavement therebetween, the pavement extension at the far end of each recess being adapted to intercept a vehicle wheel, traveling along shoulder material contained in such recess, and provide a way for such wheel on the traction surface of the pavement.

12. In a roadway for vehicles, a strip of pavement having a succession of elongated recesses formed in and extending lengthwise along an edge thereof, said recesses opening upwardly and sidewise to the outside and being spaced apart to provide laterally projecting extensions of the pavement therebetween, the pavement extension at the far end of each recess being adapted to intercept a vehicle wheel, traveling along and within the longitudinal confines: of such recess, and provide a way for such wheel on the traction surface of the pavement, each recess being supplied with a ramp-like bottom leading upward toward its far end to the pavement extension at such end thereof.

13. In a roadway for vehicles, a strip of pavement having a succession of elongated recesses formed in and extending lengthwise along an edge thereof, said recesses opening upwardly and sidewise to the outside and being spaced apart to provide laterally projecting extensions of the pavement therebetween, the pavement extension at the far end of each recess being adapted to intercept a vehicle wheel, traveling along and within the longitudinal confines of such recess, and provide a way for such wheel on the traction surface of the pavement.

LAWRENCE V. MUTSCHLEB.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,17LI,OJ O. September 26, 1939. LAWRENCE v. MUTSCHLER. It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 5, first column, line 1h, claim 8, for the word "alone" read along; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 12th day of December, A. D. 1959.

Henry Van Arsdale, (Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

